Jeff Danna / TribLocal Reporter
Glenview and Northbrook officials have considered joining other suburban communities in the increasingly common practice of hitting drivers with hefty fines to remove vehicles from impound, but have so far decided against it.
In recent years, Chicago suburbs have increasingly punished vehicle owners for crimes happening in their cars — even if the owners themselves didn’t commit them.
The Tribune found that more than 100 communities passed local laws to seize vehicles police say were used in crimes, and then charge owners hefty fees — usually $500 or more — to get the vehicles back. That’s on top of traditional towing fees and whatever fines may come from criminal charges.
But in Glenview and Northbrook, officials said they have considered such ordinances in recent years, but village board members in each have concluded that the laws weren’t right for their residents.
Suburban officials that have passed the ordinances say the fees help cover the costs of impounds in tight budget times. But critics say many towns gouge vehicle owner in a system with fewer safeguards than criminal courts to protect the innocent.
With no state laws governing the practices, a Tribune review of larger Chicagoland suburbs found wide variation in who charges extra fees, how much they charge, what crimes draw the charges, and how much leeway police give owners to avoid the fees.
A couple years ago the Northbrook Village Board considered the administrative towing fees, along with equally unpopular red-light cameras.
Trustees shot down both measures. But police still think the towing fees could be beneficial.
“It’s a revenue generator,” said Jeff Ross, deputy chief of operations for the Northbrook Police Department. “We like the thought, but I believe you need to have an administrative hearing officer. We’d have to get one of those.”
Ross said the issue could be revived some day by the village board. If trustees like the idea, police would survey other communities to determine a ‘middle of the road’ fee for vehicle owners,” Ross said.
He also said he would favor imposing the fee in cases where someone faces a state criminal charge, rather than local ordinance violation. But it should be up to a prosecutor to determine whether the vehicle’s owner or the driver is fined, Ross said.
Like the Northbrook Village Board, officials in Glenview discussed administrative impound fees together with red light cameras. Glenview police Cmdr. Jeff Ader said he’s confident that the issue is dead in his community.
Similar to the growing presence of red light cameras, the discussion about additional towing fees caught on in many suburbs after a few communities began charging, Ader said. Some towns say it’s a deterrent against certain crimes, but in Glenview, the decision came down to money.
Ross may see the revenue as a potential benefit to his community, but Ader calls it an unnecessary burden for the residents who live in his.
“We don’t do anything to generate revenue,” Ader said. “It does cost us man hours (to handle an impound), but that’s what we do. It’s part of being a police officer.”
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